Descendant
by Questdoer
Summary: The ice age has come and gone with the passage of time. Now humans rule the world. Armed with the power of science and progress, they live comfortably in towering cities of glass and steel. But soon a small team of explorers will find out just how little they really know about certain aspects of the world they live in.
1. Chapter 1: The Heirloom

'He must be the new photographer.' Holly thought as she put down the broken fragments of pottery she was working with.

She could tell because he had an actual camera, not just a smartphone.

It looked like a very high end piece of equipment, and she was willing to bet that it was the most expensive thing he owned.

* * *

He looked somewhat indian despite his rather pale complexion.

His dusty brown hair was a little thin and wispy for such a young man but it might have just seemed that way from how much it stuck up.

Holly couldn't help but cringe a little when she realized that he was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a sweater vest and socks with sandals.

Either this man lived alone and had absolutely no sense of fashion, or he just enjoyed ticking people like her off.

* * *

Holly soon realized that she was staring, but unfortunately, so did he.

She tried looking back at her work but it was too late, he was already walking over to say "Hi, my name is Terry Skipwire."

* * *

"Holly Bower." she responded.

* * *

Holly had a habit of complimenting people when she first met them, but her three go to compliments were, nice hair, nice shoes, and nice shirt, none of which really worked for Terry.

She could have mentioned his snazzy camera, but being a photographer he would have probably had a few stories to tell about it, and she wanted to keep their introduction as brief as possible.

* * *

"Nice bear." she finally decided, trying hard to not sound sarcastic.

* * *

"Oh thanks." Terry said looking down at the palm sized stone statuette hung around his neck with a nostalgic smile. "It's actually a supper old family heirloom that predates written history."

* * *

Holly looked at the bear, then at Terry, then back at the bear.

"Really?" she asked, her voice thick with subtly condescending dout.

* * *

"Oh yeah." Terry nodded "You see, this thing used to belong to the brother of one of my ancestors. Back when the world was still new and magic filled the sky."

* * *

'Ugh, why couldn't it have just been a meaningless trinket that he picked up at a gift shop somewhere?' Holly thought to herself, as she politely listened to the young man recite a story that, honestly wouldn't be out of place in a greek epic.

* * *

Basically it was the tale of a man who killed a bear for no other reason then to kill it.

And as punishment for his pointless act of violence the gods or whatever transformed him into a bear, and forced him to raise the animal's orphaned cub as his own.

* * *

"Cool story." Holly admitted "But just so you know, that trinket of yours is at most a few hundred years old."

* * *

"What?" Terry quickly inspected his charm, as if he was worried that some ne'er-do-well had swapped his genuine heirloom with a cleverly convincing fake. "How do you know?"

* * *

"Because this is a very hard type of rock, and the details on it are too good." Holly said dismissively.

She was going to leave it at that, but then she noticed the look of existential crises on Terry's face.

* * *

"You don't… can't know that for sure." Terry muttered almost to himself "They could have just been very skilled."

* * *

Holly rolled her eyes, the kid was really starting to get on her nerves. "Look, you don't have to take my word for it."

She sat up and held out her hand. "If you give it to me then I'll show you the marks from the power drill.

* * *

After thinking it over for a pained moment, Terry handed her the heirloom with an exaggerated look of disappointment.

* * *

"Come on." Holly coaxed as she led Terry to another part of the building.

"Hey Eddie, you using the microscope?" She asked a lanky, but not particularly tall, man with greasy black hair.

* * *

Eddie looked up from his work almost as if he had just been woken up from a long nap "Hu? What? …Oh um... Nope, it's all yours." He said before returning to his work.

* * *

"Thanks." She chirped before placing the bear face down on the large sheet of glass that served as the base for a rather large and complex looking machine.

"Now look closely." Holly instructed as she turned a few knobs, and adjusted the image being displayed on a nearby screen.

"You should, see, a… hold on." she muttered, the confidence in her voice rapidly fading. "I can't find anything." She admitted a few moments later.

* * *

"So… Does that mean I'm right?" Terry asked hopefully, but Holly just ignored him.

* * *

"Hey Eddie come look at this." She requested with a hand gesture.

* * *

Eddie sighed, picked up his papers, walked over, and started wordlessly tinkering with the settings.

He seemed nonchalant at first, but after a few seconds he became a bit agitated.

"This can't be right." he said as he put down his papers and took Holly's seat.

* * *

Terry looked confused. "What's wrong?"

* * *

"This doesn't seem to have been cut. At all!" Eddie said finally, his voice thick with skepticism of his own claim.

* * *

"What are you saying? That the rock just formed like this naturally?" Terry asked.

* * *

"Yes. I mean no. I mean, that's what it looks like." Eddie stammered.

* * *

"Could you be wrong?" Holly asked him calmly.

* * *

"Okay look, you see this oxidized layer that coats the outside of the rock?" Eddie said, pointing it out on the screen. "If you were to cut into that then you would reveal a less oxidized layer underneath."

* * *

"Is it possible to fake this?" She asked, still very calm and collected.

* * *

"No. At least, not that I'm aware of." Eddie answered soberly.

* * *

Holly nodded. "Alright then... Thanks for your time."

* * *

"Wait." Eddie protested. "What are you going to do now?"

* * *

Holly pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call Kayden."


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Mr Nameless

Terry covered up the wooden buttons of his best sweater vest with a plain black tie.

He then took a step back to look at his outfit in the mirror.

"Ya that will work." he said to himself before quickly leaving his room to search for his keys.

* * *

"What are you all dressed up for?" his mom asked as he past her "did you get another gig?"

* * *

"Uh, I'm going to the museum." Terry said absentmindedly.

* * *

"The museum?" Ms. Skipwire said in astonishment. "But didn't you take pictures for them just the day before yesterday?"

* * *

"What?" Terry asked himself as he momentarily snapped his attention back to his mom. "Oh! ah no, they want me to show our family bear to some expert."

* * *

Ms. Skipwire pondered this for a second. "They're probably going to try to buy it off of you..."

"Terry." she said, tapping her son on the arm to get his attention again. "That bear is a priceless treasure. Promise me you'll keep it in the family no matter how much money they offer you."

* * *

"I promise." he reassured her with an honest smile. "Besides, I think they just want to figure out where it came from."

* * *

After finding his keys on a nearby shelf Terry kissed his mom goodbye and swiftly left the house.

It didn't take him long to get to his destination as the streets were rather empty for the weekend.

* * *

Terry felt a little uneasy as he entered the museum.

Most of the lights were off, including all of the lights used to illuminate the exhibits.

It wasn't completely dark, there was an overhead light in every room, but there were also large portions of space everywhere that remained shrouded by a lack of windows.

* * *

"Hello?" he called out a few times as he wandered through the seemingly deserted building.

After a while he heard voices chatting with each other in the distance, and he quickly picked up his pace to find them.

* * *

"-were a lot smarter than you give them credit for. You can't just jump to wild conclusions simply because we don't-" Holly stopped what she saying as Terry entered the well lit backroom. "Oh hi, I didn't see you there."

* * *

"Hello." Terry said sheepishly.

* * *

Holly sat up from her chair to introduce him to the man she was just talking to. "Terry, this is Kayden Nameless. My rich and easily exploitable investor friend."

* * *

"Ignore her." The man chuckled, as he walked up to shake Terry's hand.

* * *

Kayden was about the same height as Terry, but he was a bit more muscular.

His black hair had a thick blond streak bleached onto it, and was neatly combed in the wrong direction.

"I hear you have something extraordinary to show me?" he asked eagerly as he re-adjusted his glasses.

* * *

Terry wordlessly lifted the bear from around his neck and handed it to Kayden, who inspected it gingerly as if it were a delicate piece of fine china. "Who would think that such an innocuous looking thing could hold the greatest archaeological mystery since stonehenge."

* * *

"Is that what you're gonna put on the cover of your next book?" Holly teased.

* * *

Kayden batted his hand at her dismissively before turning back to Terry. "Now, I have been cross referencing your family legend with the folklores of various cultures across the world. Trying to determine the origin of this artifact."

He spoke quickly, but with a great deal of confidence and authority. "And one ancient tribe of people, with an impossible to pronounce name, seems very promising."

* * *

Kayden handed the bear back to Terry, along with a few printed out pictures and reports detailing what he was talking about.

"Not only did they have a very strong mythos centered around people being turned into animals, but they also made totem amulets for their people as a coming of age ritual. Of course, all these amulets were made of wood or clay, but that doesn't mean that there couldn't have been exceptions."

* * *

Kayden gestured to the small stack of papers that Terry was now reading through. "That's about all I can find out from other people's work, so any further information will require further investigation."

* * *

"I'm in." Holly chimed in out of the blue. "Whatever crazy expedition you're planning, I'm in."

* * *

Kayden looked down at the ground and snickered. "You know me too well."

* * *

"That's all well and good, but why did you invite me here for all this?" Terry couldn't help but ask.

* * *

There was a brief pause as Holly and Kayden looked at each other.

* * *

"Well," Kayden began. "I was actually hoping to buy the bear from you."

Kayden rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure, I could conduct my research with just pictures, but it makes for a better story if I actually have the artifact with me."

* * *

"Plus its value will probably go way up after his book stirs up some media buzz over it." Holly added knowingly.

* * *

"Ha, that too." Kayden agreed nervously.

* * *

"I see," Terry muttered, not at all surprised.

He then spoke up a bit and said, "unfortunately I have to decline. This bear holds a great deal of sentimental value to me and my family, so I could never part with it."

* * *

Kayden didn't seem dissuaded at all, but the counteroffer he made was not what Terry was expecting. "Then come with us."

* * *

"Excuse me?" Terry asked.

* * *

"Join us on our expedition," he clarified. "I need a cameraman anyway."

* * *

Terry rested his chin on his hand as he thought it over.

"I suppose I could ask either Jed or Lewis to take care of Mom while I'm gone." he muttered to himself before looking back at Kayden. "Alright, I'm in."


	3. Chapter 3: To Touch The Sky

Kayden waved to his approaching cohorts with a toothy grin.

* * *

The past few weeks had been a seemingly endless series of delays, and not the exciting kind that make for a good story.

But everything was in order now, and the three of them were finally ready to start their adventure.

* * *

"Hey, you got a nice chopper this time!" Holly said approvingly, as she inspected the aircraft.

* * *

Kayden smiled "Ya. After what happened in Peru, I figured it was worth the extra cash."

* * *

"So where's the pilot?" Terry asked as he looked around expectantly.

* * *

Kayden spread out his arms. "You're looking at him."

* * *

Terry didn't seem convinced "I thought you needed good eyesight to be allowed to fly?"

"I can see fine." Kayden said dismissively, as he self consciously readjusted his glasses.

* * *

Terry reluctantly dropped the subject, and started loading up his bags. "So how long are we going to be gone again?"

* * *

"Five days and four nights, give or take." Holly answered as she climbed into the passenger seat.

* * *

"So are we all ready?" Kayden asked once everyone was seated.

* * *

"Ready." His passengers answered in unison.

* * *

Kayden smiled as he put on his headset "Then let's do this."

* * *

A metallic buzz could be heard, and then felt, as the blades of the chopper started to rotate.

The noise quickly grew into a deafening roar that drowned out all other sounds.

Then the ground began to ever so gently pull away from them, as they rose high into the air.

* * *

It was going to be a very long flight, but Kayden didn't mind.

He loved how beautiful the world looked from above.

The snow topped mountains, and oceans of evergreen trees were simply breathtaking.

* * *

Terry must have thought so too, as he was sticking his camera out the window taking pictures.

But as the hours past, his excitement seemed to die down and he got bored.

"So I was meaning to ask," he shouted over the roar of the helicopter. "Is Nameless your real name, or is it a pseudonym?"

* * *

"It's my mother's last name." he shouted back "She didn't want to part with it for sentimental reasons, so my dad took it on when they got married."

* * *

Terry nodded while saying something at an imperceptible normal volume before speaking up and asking "So what is it that we're looking for here?"

* * *

"Nothing that you could see from the air, unfortunately." Holly chimed in, taking a moment out from reading the small novel's worth of maps and papers she was looking through.

"Speaking of which..." She added as she double checked her notes.

"This looks like a good spot, land over there." She said pointing at a small clearing of trees near the base of a mountain.

* * *

"Alright." Kayden replied, reallocating his attention to landing the chopper.

* * *

The sparse grass that covered the rocky ground rippled outwards like the surface of a lake as the chopper approached it.

There was a small bump as the feet of the aircraft once again met the earth, and moments later the endless buzzing of metal blades began to fade into sweet silence.

* * *

"Now, I like flying as much as the next gal, but it sure is nice to be on solid ground again." Holly said as she stretched her way out of the chopper.

* * *

"Ya." snickered Kayden, his ears still ringing.

* * *

"Now what?" Terry asked, looking back at the still slowly spinning blades of the helicopter.

* * *

"Now, you two are going to start setting up camp while I figure out a search plan." Holly answered, as she stepped back to the chopper to get her maps.

* * *

"She's right." said Kayden "We burned a lot a daylight just getting here."

* * *

"Alright, but can we start with a fire?" Terry requested "I'm absolutely freezing!"

* * *

"Sure," Kayden nodded "but if you wanted to be warm you should have brought along a better jacket."

* * *

"This is the largest jacket I could find." Terry said defensively.

* * *

"Ya, and that's exactly your problem." Kayden laughed "That jacket is far too big for you, so there is a lot of room between it and you for the cold to get in."

* * *

Terry gave an indignant look as he clenched his coat around him like a blanket, his face turning red from either embarrassment or the frigid air.

* * *

"Come on," Kayden beamed "let's get some firewood."

* * *

The two men spent the rest of the day, and the first few hours of the night, building and improving the campsite together.

But they eventually had to say "good enough." and turn in for the night.

* * *

Kayden was asleep for maybe a few hours before being woken up by Terry repeatedly poking him in the arm.

* * *

"There are reindeer." he said in a shocked and shaky voice.

* * *

Kayden groaned "I'm not surprised, we're in the middle of the woods."

He tried going back to bed, but Terry poked him again.

* * *

"They are flying." He said, his voice completely serious.

* * *

"What? Like Santa Claus?" Kayden asked, the sheer absurdity of the claim waking him up, if for no other reason than to make sure that Terry had actually said what he thought he said.

* * *

"No." Terry stated simply as he half helped, half forced Kayden out of his tent.

* * *

"Hu?... I didn't know they had auroras this far south." Kayden said looking up at the beautiful swirl of lights that danced across the night sky, casting an eerie green glow across the frost covered ground.

He then rubbed his eyes, put on his glasses, and took a second look.

* * *

There were a bunch of distinct shapes swimming through the stream of colors.

Animals… The aurora was full of the holographic images of animals.

Some were flying ones like birds, but most of them ground bound animals like wolves or buffalo.

* * *

"What is this?" Kayden asked in astonishment.

* * *

"Some kind of optical illusion?" Holly offered, not taking her eyes off of the sky for a second.

* * *

Kayden turned to Terry and asked "Have you gotten this on camera yet!?"

* * *

Terry nodded, his camera still in his hands making clicking sounds.

* * *

"Right." Kayden said sharply as he tried to decide what to do next.

"Holly, stay here and keep filming. Terry, you and I will go up in the chopper to see if we can get a better idea of what's causing this." He instructed.

* * *

Holly nodded and pulled out her phone, while he and Terry started running to the helicopter.

Higher and higher into the night sky they flew, but instead of vanishing, the images in the aurora just got clearer.

He could even make out some of the smaller animals like rabbits or gophers.

* * *

Then Kayden started to notice something odd.

They seemed to be getting closer to the aurora, almost as if it were a physical object in the sky.

* * *

"Maybe you were right about my eyesight." Kayden joked nervously, right before their chopper was engulfed by the lights.


	4. Chapter 4: Probably Impossible

Holly gasped in horror as she watched the helicopter spin out of control from the screen of her phone.

The aircraft fell at a heavy slant above a downhill slope, so it took it a good half a minute to hit the ground.

* * *

"No..." Holly said to herself as the shock started to set in.

"No, no, no, NO!" she found herself repeating as she started running in the direction of the crash.

She held her phone tightly in her hand as she ran, not even bothering to turn the recording off.

* * *

'They can't be dead, they can't be!' she thought to herself, tears welling up in her eyes and obstructing her already limited vision.

It was so much darker under the trees, as their thick branches obscured most, if not all, of the green light that illuminated the clearing.

* * *

She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that it was a bad idea to just go charging unprepared through the woods like this, but she wasn't thinking straight.

All she knew was that she had to make sure that they were okay.

* * *

Powered by adrenaline Holly blindly ran for what seemed like an eternity, until she finally caught sight of something metallic glinting in the distance.

"KAYDEN!?" She yelled as she approached.

* * *

Her heart sank as she saw the state of the chopper.

It was tilted on its side and pressed up against a now fallen tree, Its metal body crumpled and deformed.

The doors of the aircraft were inaccessible as one set was pressed into the ground, and the other was in the air.

* * *

"TERRY?!" she tried, stepping on broken fragments of the helicopter's blades that had broken off during the crash.

* * *

"Holly?" She heard the muffled sound of Kayden's voice ask.

* * *

An overwhelming rush of relief washed over Holly, followed by the sudden realization of just how badly she had pushed herself getting here.

"Are you hurt?" She called out, as she winced at her own pain.

* * *

"I feel strange." he said, his voice weak and disoriented.

* * *

"Just stay where you are, I'll get you guys out of there!" she panted reassuringly as she ran up to the broken windshield.

* * *

Quickly glancing in, Holly could see the faint outline of Kayden's jacket.

Not wanting to waste any time she quickly hoisted it and its contents out of the chopper.

It took her a moment to realize that, although full, the jacket was not being worn by Kayden.

Jumping backwards in shock, Holly dropped the creature on the ground with a loud thud.

* * *

"Ah!" she squealed, defensively drawing her arms close to her.

* * *

The creature looked like some kind of large cat with two massive teeth that did not fit in its mouth.

Its reflective green eyes gave her a confused look from behind its cracked glasses as it asked her "What's wrong?" in Kayden's voice.

* * *

Holly didn't know why, but she started laughing.

It was a kind of nervous, panicked, laughter that made her feel like she was going insane.

* * *

"Holly?" the creature asked as it tried to get up from off its back.

"Why do you..." it began before suddenly looking down, making its glasses drop right off its face.

* * *

The creature just sat there for a while, occasionally moving its paws and giving a slowly growing expression of terror.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" it yelled abruptly, jolting its head up to look at her.

* * *

"Kayden?!" Holly asked, no longer laughing.

* * *

"I'M A DOG! HOW AM I A DOG!?" he screamed.

* * *

"I DON'T KNOW!" Holly said frantically. "And I think you're a cat!"

* * *

He then started to wriggle around in a panic, which only served to tangle him up in the mess of ill fitting clothes he was wearing.

* * *

"This can't be happening." Holly chuckled to herself as she pressed her wrist against her forehead.

* * *

Unable to move, Kayden took several deep and shaky breaths before saying. "Okay let's take a step back here."

* * *

Holly was surprised at how quickly he was able to regain his composure.

"The chopper crashed, and now I'm a cat…" Kayden sighed. "And I do not remember either of those things happening."

* * *

"This, is impossible." Holly said, taking a step back.

* * *

"Well it happened didn't it!?" Kayden spat. "We just don't know how or why ye..." Kayden's voice slowed to a crawl as he started sniffing the air.

"Do you smell blood?" he asked unexpectedly.

* * *

They both looked at each other for a moment before suddenly turning to the crashed chopper.

"TERRY?!" They both called, as Holly climbed into the aircraft.

* * *

Holly fished her phone out of her pocket to use as a flashlight.

Realizing that it was still recording, she decided to just switch it to self camera mode so that it would record whatever she was trying to illuminate.

* * *

"What the heck is going on?" Holly whined as she saw the large unconscious creature wearing Terry's coat as well as what was left of his pants.

* * *

"Is he all right?" Kayden asked from outside.

* * *

"He's a polar bear." Holly answered in an almost mocking tone.

* * *

She didn't want to get anywhere near him, as she felt that he could have woken up in a panic at any moment, but he had a gash above one of his eyes.

It wasn't particularly large, but it was gushing a steady stream of blood that was trickling down his face and staining his white fur a sickly pink.

* * *

Thinking fast Holly picked up a sharp piece of glass and wrapped half of it in a shredded piece of leather from the remains of Terry's boots.

She then took her improvised knife and started cutting off any bits of clothing that hadn't already burst off of him.

Mainly the once over sized jacket that was now squeezing the blood right out of him.

Once she was done she took some of the scrap fabric, and tied it around his head as a bandage.

* * *

'I really hope I'm not just going crazy.' Holly thought to herself as she backed up to the front of the chopper. 'Because I do not want to have to explain to Terry why I stripped him naked in the middle of below zero weather.'


	5. Chapter 5: Theory Crafting

Terry woke up to an assortment of strange smells, and an ear splitting headache.

* * *

The first thing he noticed after opening his eyes was that his plasticky blue jacket had been replaced by a white and fluffy one that looked like it was made of real animal fur.

Kayden was right about smaller jackets being warmer.

This new one felt skin tight, and was so effective at trapping in heat that Terry was actually burning up.

Wanting to take it off for a bit to cool down Terry sat up, only to realize that his new jacket was actually a full body suit.

"What am I wearing?" he asked earnestly as he looked down at the bed of scrap fabric he was sleeping on.

* * *

"Terry! You're awake." Holly said with a startled jump.

She looked like she hadn't slept all night.

* * *

"We crashed." Terry realized as he glanced around the wreck.

* * *

"Ya that too..." she said nervously as she tried to decide whether to move closer to him, or farther back.

* * *

There was a brief pause before Terry started asking a series of ever more panicked questions.

"Why did we crash? Is Mr. Nameless alright? How long was I out? Have you called for help yet? Are these shreds of fabric from my clothes? Is this blood? Whose blood is this!? Why am I wearing a costume? Where did you even get this? How do I get it off? Why does it feel so... What is this? WHAT IS THIS?!"

* * *

Terry tried to stand up, but there was something strange about his legs, and he came crashing down against the wall.

The shift in weight made the whole wreck sway back and forth, which did not sit well with Holly.

* * *

"Terry!" she said urgently "Terry listen to me!"

* * *

"I'm a… this isn't… I'm not..." Terry stammered "I need to get out of here!"

Terry bolted forward on all fours, propelled by adrenaline over the toppled seats and through the broken windshield.

He could feel the shards of glass painfully scraping against him as he barreled out onto the slightly snowy ground, somewhat bloodier than he was a few seconds ago.

* * *

"Don't do that!" Holly scolded, still unnerved by him suddenly rushing past her.

* * *

Terry panted heavily for a moment, trying in vain to catch his breath or alleviate the oppressive heat.

Then he noticed another, less destroyed, set of clothes strewn about the ground.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Kayden asked pointlessly.

* * *

Terry turned his head to address the man speaking to him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Instead there was a saber toothed cat with a concerned expression, and broken glasses sloppily ducked taped to its face.

* * *

Terry leaned away as the cat approached him, eventually flopping over onto his side.

The frozen dirt caused him a great deal of pain as it mixed in with his freshly opened wounds.

* * *

"What's going on?" He whined to himself.

* * *

The cat inhaled sharply through its pointed teeth and said "I don't really know how to say this but… You're a polar bear."

* * *

"Mr. Nameless!?" Terry gasped in disbelief. "You're a… a…"

* * *

"A cat." he supplied "and an extinct kind of cat no less."

* * *

"How?!" Terry asked, his mouth agape.

* * *

"I don't know." Kayden admitted "I have a theory, but I don't think you are going to like it."

* * *

Terry sat himself upright and began inspecting himself frantically.

* * *

"Hey." Holly said as she hesitantly approached the two of them "Have you calmed down enough for me to give you medical attention, or are you going to freak out again?"

* * *

"IIIII'm still freaking out... but ya you can come closer." Terry said as he used his big flat paws to feel his long pointed face.

* * *

"Alright then." Holly said as she crawled back into the chopper to get some supplies.

* * *

"So what's your theory?" Terry asked, desperately trying to ease his confusion.

* * *

"Well..." Kayden began, "What if we were abducted by aliens?"

* * *

Terry wrinkled his brow, causing hot blood to roll down his face "I don't see why aliens would want to turn us into… this."

* * *

Kayden lowered his voice slightly. "But what if we're not really us? What if we are botched clones with implanted memories? I mean, they probably wouldn't be messing with humans exclusively, right? So it seems plausible that they would have copies of animal DNA that they could potentially mix up with ours."

* * *

"You're right…" Terry said nervously "I don't like this theory."

* * *

"Then you will be glad that it's got a gaping hole in it." Holly said as she came back with a bent up first aid kit.

She continued "Given recent events I think it's safe to say that the local folklore may actually have some historical merit to it. And if that is the case then this phenomenon has been going on in this specific mountain range since the ice age."

* * *

Holly kneeled down next to Terry and fished out a bottle of antiseptic.

"Hm... We'll need to wash you off first." she pondered to herself as she compared the size of the bottle to that of her patient.

"Come on," she sighed as she put the bottle away, sat up, and started walking "We need to get you to camp before you lose any more blood."

* * *

Kayden was quick to join her, but Terry stalled "Shouldn't we take the clothes with us?" he asked.

* * *

"Good thinking." Holly said as she turned around "We may need them for rope and bandages."

* * *

Terry sighed "That, and I want to have a warm jacket and a pair of pants on hand in case this change turns out to only be temporary."

* * *

Kayden chuckled. "Too bad the only set of intact clothes are mine hu?"

* * *

"You would share right?" Terry asked anxiously "Right!?"


	6. Chapter 6: Distress

Kayden was still surprised at just how natural his movements felt.

For some reason he kept thinking of that old adage which proposed that one would never forget how to ride a bicycle.

But in this situation it was as if he couldn't remember learning to ride in the first place, and in fact, the mere existence of the bike was ludicrous.

Kayden shook his head in order to clear his mind of this quickly deteriorating metaphor.

* * *

Regardless of how good or bad he was at being a cat, there was still the question of how he became one in the first place.

He still believed that aliens were the most logical explanation that he could reach for.

Yes, it seemed that this phenomenon had an ancient history and was tied to this geographical location, but as far as he was concerned that didn't disprove anything.

* * *

A more compelling argument against his clone theory would be the fact that he was still farsighted, and even that wouldn't necessarily disprove anything.

Who was to say that flaws could not be intentionally induced onto a clone body to replicate the wear and tear of regular ageing or injury?

* * *

Kayden found himself meticulously combing through every memory that came to mind.

His dad, his first book, his parents divorce, the first time he ever flew, they all seemed normal.

'But how am I supposed to even know what normal is?' Kayden shook his head again.

That kind of thinking was not going to get him anywhere, and he knew it.

* * *

"K! Stay with the groop." Holly insisted, her voice sounding more distant then he would have expected.

* * *

The lenses of Kayden's glasses were cracked and didn't line up with the new positions of his eyes, but he could still clearly see Holly far behind him, carrying a laundry basket's worth of supplies.

Terry was farther still, and he wasn't sure what the poor man… bear? ...was going to pass out from first, blood loss, emotional shock, or heat exhaustion.

* * *

Kayden didn't want to slow down, he wanted to walk in pace with his thoughts.

But unfortunately his travel companions couldn't keep up, so he had to wait for them.

Mostly it was Terry who was slowing them down, as he was barely shuffling his paws and would flop onto the ground every ten minutes to pant.

But eventually they made it back to their camp.

* * *

The first thing Holly did after setting down her load was retrieve her maps and the long distance radio.

"Mayday mayday, can anybody hear me?" Holly asked after a few minutes of tinkering with the radio.

She waited a few moments before speaking again, her voice gaining a level of assurance indicative of an actual conversation. "Yes um… There has been an accident. Our helicopter crashed and we need help."

Holly sat down a moment as she silently nodded her head.

* * *

"No. No one is seriously injured but um..." Holly buried the bridge of her nose into her hand "Look this may seem like a strange request but um… is there any way you could get a veterinarian out here? Preferably one who has experience with large, exotic, predatory, mammals?"

She glanced over at Terry who was still wordlessly shuffling in the general direction of the creek before laughing in a pitifully ingenuine way. "Yeah... Something like that."

* * *

Kayden left Holly's side once she started talking longitude and latitude.

Instead he rejoined Terry who was steadily picking up his pace.

"You okay?" Kayden asked him, but Terry didn't say anything.

Instead he eagerly plunged himself into the shallow mountain stream.

He sighed deeply with relief as he tried to submerge himself as much as possible in the ice filled water.

* * *

"Feel better?" Kayden tried, nervously watching the thin streams of red wash away in the current.

* * *

Terry nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

* * *

Kayden wanted to say something reassuring, but he couldn't think of anything other than rabbits to chase down holes.

Terry didn't need that right now, so he kept his theories to himself.

* * *

"Help is on its way." Holly said as she approached with a box of medical supplies.

* * *

Kayden smiled as sheepishly as one could with such long and pointed teeth "I take it we're not going to tell them about… you know..."

* * *

Holly scoffed "I would rather they didn't just dismiss our cry for help as a prank, thank you very much."

* * *

"Good thinking." Kayden admitted.

* * *

"Okay Terry, you can't just sit there all day." Holly insisted "Wash off as much blood and dirt as you can. Then come back up here so I can patch you up."

* * *

Terry did as he was told, although he wasn't too thrilled about having to leave his ice bath.

Water poured out of his fur like an over saturated sponge as he climbed out of the creek.

Even after shaking a good deal of it off like a dog he was still sopping wet.

"I hate this." he moaned as Holly walked up to him.

* * *

"Really?!" she mocked sarcastically "Because I'm having the time of my life."

* * *

Terry flinched as Holly poured the antiseptic on his open wounds, causing his thick fat layer to ripple across his body like a water balloon full of gelatin.

* * *

"Hold still hold still." she repeated rapidly.

She then started stitching him up with a needle and thread.

"Shhhh!" She hissed through chattering teeth.

"I wish I could wear gloves for this." She said to herself as she took a moment out to put her bright red hands under her armpits to try and warm them up.

* * *

Kayden wished he could help, but all he could do was watch.

Powerless may not have been the most extreme thing he had felt that day, but it was definitely the worst.


	7. Chapter 7: Possibilities

Holly couldn't feel her fingers, which had gone so stiff from the cold that she could barely hold the needle.

Her palms were not the coldest part of her hands, but they still hurt the most, as they were still warm enough to actually feel the pain.

* * *

Eventually Holly couldn't take it anymore, and she had to draw her wet hands against her body in a near futile attempt to warm them up.

Leaving the needle to dangle from Terry's half stitched wound like a silkworm on a tree branch.

It felt like she was rubbing ice on her sides, but at least it dried her hands.

* * *

"It's so hot." Terry moaned, unintentionally mocking her misery.

* * *

"I'm almost done." Holly reassured him as she reluctantly started working again.

* * *

Progress was slow and painful for both of them, but Holly didn't want to rush it.

She needed to do this right the first time, otherwise the stitches could come undone and they would have to go through this all over again.

* * *

"Alright done." Holly said as she cut the excess thread from the last stitch with a pair of scissors.

She then quickly packed up the medkit and tucked her hands in her pockets.

* * *

Terry said nothing, he just rose to his feet and turned towards the river.

* * *

"Where do you think you're going?" Holly snapped.

* * *

Terry turned back to look at her with confusion in his almost entirely black eyes "To cool off?"

* * *

"Oh no you dont." She said disapprovingly "I used almost all our disinfectant on you, and I will not have you washing it all out just so you can go swimming."

* * *

Terry gave her a look like a kicked puppy, but didn't try to argue the point.

* * *

"Let's just get you back to the tents." she suggested wearily "And try not to pull your stitches."

* * *

As the two of them walked up the small incline towards their camp Holly caught sight of Kayden.

He was rolling around on the ground and tussling with an imaginary foe like an over excited kitten.

But he righted himself immediately as soon as he realized that they were watching.

* * *

"Ahem..." he coughed awkwardly. "I was just... Testing the capabilities of my new body." he explained as professionally as he could through his glaring embarrassment.

* * *

"Oh good." Holly exclaimed "Because for a moment there I thought you had gone feral."

* * *

"Aaanyway…. you want to head back to the crash?" Kayden suggested "We left a lot of valuable stuff back there, most notably, the flairs."

* * *

"Oh! Those would be useful." Holly muttered to herself as she wondered why she hadn't thought of getting those earlier.

Although, to be fair, she was a bit distracted at the time.

* * *

"Yeah, you guys go without me." Terry said to them as he sloppily laid out some clean blankets to lie on top of.

* * *

"Fine by me." Holly agreed, as she emptied out two backpacks for them to carry stuff in.

Once she was done she turned to Kayden and asked "You want me to fix your glasses before we go?" as she had noticed that he had somehow managed to tear them off his face.

* * *

Kayden glanced at the cracked spectacles lying on the floor in a pile of crumpled duct tape. "Nah... They weren't doing much for me anyway."

* * *

"Alright." she said as she walked up to him and tore off some stips of tape that were still sticking to him. "Then let's go."

* * *

Holly's legs still felt bruised from her mad dash through the woods last night, and it was slowing her pace.

Kayden however was doing the quadrupedal equivalent to jogging, and would rush ahead only to backtrack behind her again so as not to get too far ahead.

He was quite literally walking circles around her, albeit rather slowly.

* * *

"You seem oddly excited." Holly mentioned as she took a moment out to catch her breath.

* * *

"And you're not?!" Kayden beamed back with surprise. "We have just stumbled across something incredible. I'm talking era definingly increible! Once word gets out, this whole mountain range will become the birth site of an entirely new field of study. I mean, just imagine what we could do if we ever learned to understand, or even control, this phenomenon!"

* * *

"We could turn more people into lions and tigers and bears? Oh my." Holly mocked dryly.

* * *

"Holly… We are talking about full body reconstruction and or transfer of consciousness in under an hour, at the absolute most!" Kayden explained. "Are you seriously saying that you can't think of any practical or medical uses for that?"

* * *

"Ugh..." Holly groaned as she realized what he was getting at. "This is going to change everything isn't it?"

* * *

"Oh yeah." Kayden agreed.

* * *

The two of them walked in silence for a little while, both of them overwhelmed by all the terrifying and terrific possibilities for the future.

* * *

"What about you?" Holly chimed in eventually. "What if people want to dissect you or something?"

* * *

"This isn't an urban fantasy novel Holly." Kayden scoffed "Scientists are just regular people like you or me, and I would like to think that they would still consider us as human, or at the very least, deserving of ethical treatment."

Kayden's expression dropped as he came to a sudden realization "Ah man… Me and Terry are going to become the center of debate across the entire world! We are going to be more in the public eye then the royal family of England."

He snickered nervously "I think it's safe to say that my book sales are going to skyrocket once th-"

* * *

Kayden didn't stop talking… There was still sound coming from his mouth.

The only problem was that Holly couldn't understand a word of it.

It had suddenly become garbled, slurred, even… animalistic…

* * *

Holly broke out into a cold sweat as she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Kayden?" she asked slowly, her knuckles clenched white with fear.

* * *

The large cat stopped to look at her with a slightly worried expression.

"Mrawwarr?" he asked gently, apparently not realizing the problem.

* * *

"I... Can't understand you." Holly half explained half realized for herself.

* * *

Kaydens ears slowly dropped, as his expression changed to match her fear and confusion.

* * *

"Well um… You want to keep going or head back?" Holly asked after the two of them had spent a good few minutes freaking out together.

* * *

After an uncomfortably long wait Kayden started walking and flicked his head in the direction of the crash.

Then a few steps in he looked back to see if she was following him.

* * *

"Alright." Holly sighed.

* * *

If the same thing was happening to Terry, then she would be the only one capable of explaining what was happening to search and rescue.

That was going to be a problem, as they were kind of banking on the whole talking animals thing to lend credibility to their story.

Sure she had the video on her phone, but that meant next to nothing in this day and age.

* * *

Worst of all, this new development suggested that the boys were becoming more animal like over time.

And Holly did not want to be around to watch her friends slowly start thinking like the massive super predators that they currently were.


	8. Chapter 8: An Overt Lack Of Curiosity

Terry was seriously tempted to sneak back to the creek and get himself wet again.

He knew full well that it would do him more harm than good in the long run, but he was just so uncomfortable that he almost didn't care.

'I'll do it in a few minutes once I'm sure they are all the way gone.' he told himself.

Only to change his stance to 'They have been gone a while and might be back at any moment.' after about an hour.

This was probably one of the very few times in his life that his tendency to procrastinate was actually helpful.

* * *

Terry sighed.

He didn't know what he was going to tell his mom and brothers when he got back.

Assuming he even could go back.

If nearly freezing weather felt this bad, then Terry definitely did not want to experience the almost certainly fatal temperatures waiting for him down south.

* * *

Then from out of nowhere Terry heard a man yell "I'm single, and I'm awesome!"

* * *

"Is someone out there?" Terry asked as he forced himself upright.

* * *

"OMG! ANOTHER TALKING BEAR!" the voice screamed understandably.

* * *

"Yeah about that." Terry began only to cut himself off "Wait... How many talking bears have you met?"

* * *

"Just the one." The voice answered, instantly regaining total composure as if it were nothing.

* * *

"Was he a human that got turned into a bear or...?" Terry asked as he tried and failed to find the man talking to him.

* * *

"What!? Humans can do that?" The voice asked somewhat unnerved by the sentiment.

* * *

"Wait? Are you not..." Terry trailed off as he realized the implications of the man's offhanded comment.

* * *

"Not what?" a small bird perched on one of the tents asked.

* * *

Terry wasn't sure why he was so surprised, after all, he did wake up as a bear today.

A talking bird, even such an articulate one, was hardly unusual compared to that.

* * *

"Hm… Seems I broke it." the bird said to himself with a disinterested puff of his feathers.

* * *

He looked like he was about to fly away before Terry asked him "So let me get this straight… You were born a bird... And you can talk?"

* * *

The bird tilted his head contemplatively as he settled back on his perch "Well ya, we're pretty much the only animals that do. I mean obviously you and that rude grizzly can talk, but I don't think that's normal. Although to be fair, you are the first ice bear I have ever met. Oh yeah! I also heard a human try to talk once, but unlike you, they didn't make any sense."

* * *

Terry pressed his head to the ground and put his paws on top of his snout. "Are you telling me that I'm speaking bird right now?"

* * *

The bird scoffed "Well yeah, all languages are bird languages."

* * *

Terry groaned, he didn't really feel like correcting the little creature.

* * *

"You seem upset Mr. bear." The bird chirped only to get very suspicious all of a sudden "You're not hungry are you?"

* * *

"I'm not a bear." Terry corrected "At least… not originally."

* * *

The bird seemed intrigued "O Rly? Then what were you?"

* * *

"I'm Human." Terry answered sheepishly.

* * *

"Hmm… Makes sense." the bird said to himself "If anyone was going make impossible things happen, it would be humans."

* * *

"No you don't understand! I didn't do this to myself." Terry protested "You see there were these strange lights in the sky, so we flew up to see what was going on and-"

* * *

The bird quickly cut him off in astonishment "Wait wait wait wait wait… You didn't fly into the great lights did you?!"

* * *

Terry was equally surprised "You know about the lights?! What are they? Where do they come from? How did they do this to me? Is there any way I can-"

* * *

The little bird cut him off again "You know… For supposedly being part of a nearly omnipotent superspecies, you sure ask a lot of stupid and pointless questions."

* * *

"Stupid and pointless?" Terry muttered under his breath.

* * *

The little bird nodded "Uh-huh. The only thing that either of us really need to know about the lights is that they are dangerous and you shouldn't touch them."

* * *

"You not a very curious little critter are you?" Terry noted.

* * *

"Nope." he chirped back proudly.

* * *

Terry sighed "Could you at least tell me more about the talking grizzly bear you mentioned earlier?"

* * *

The little bird puffed up indignantly "He's a big old meanie that does magic tricks for everyone but me."

* * *

"What kind of magic tricks?" Terry couldn't help but ask.

* * *

"Tell you what." The bird begin "Do a little something for me and I'll show you where he lives. Then you can ask him all the stupid questions you like."

* * *

"Okay… What is it you want?" Terry asked quizzically.

* * *

"I want you to make my chest feathers darker." he answered promptly "If you are indeed a human as you claim then that should be no problem for you."

* * *

Terry took a moment out to think it over "I suppose we could draw on you with a sharpie or something… but why would you want-"

* * *

"By the hawks! Do you ever stop asking questions?" the little bird cut in once more "It's because girls like guys with dark chest feathers, and I want to have chicks this year."

The little guy bobbed his head up and down in frustration "Now do we have a deal or not?"

* * *

"Yeah we have a deal," Terry decided quickly "but you'll have to wait a little while for my friends to get back."

* * *

"Alright fine." The bird agreed reluctantly "But I'm not going to wait around all day."


	9. Chapter 9: Misunderstanding

Kayden didn't know what was wrong with Holly.

It was as if she had suddenly forgotten the entire english language, and in its place she spoke an oddly familiar dialect that Kayden couldn't quite put his finger on.

* * *

At first Kayden tried to be as talkative as possible, as he felt as though it might have helped her in some way.

He narrated his thoughts, sang old nursery rhymes, and said the name Holly over and over again.

But she just stared at him unresponsively, looking confused and scared.

* * *

Kayden slowly gave up on his rambling as they found the crash and wordlessly picked it clean of supplies.

Then, with two backpacks filled to the brim, they started the long and quiet trip back.

* * *

As they approached camp Holly picked up her pace, making a beeline straight for Mr. Skipwire.

"Quick, Terry, say something." she snapped in perfect english.

* * *

"Like what?" he asked, clearly flustered by her overwhelming sense of urgency.

* * *

Holly relaxed considerably as she heard him speak "Oh thank god."

* * *

"Okay, wait just a minute!" Kayden protested.

* * *

But before he could get his thoughts out Holly gasped "You can talk again!"

* * *

"Me?!" Kayden shot back "I was talking more than half the trip. You were the one who randomly decided to start speaking in arabic or whatever that was."

* * *

Holly shook her head "All I heard from you was cat sounds."

* * *

"No I… What?" Kayden's voice faltered with his conviction as he did a quick double take of the past hour.

* * *

But then an unfamiliar voice broke him out of his introspection "So you're the people who are gonna make me sexy?"

* * *

Holly looked around anxiously "What was that?"

* * *

"Yeah..." Terry began sheepishly "While you were gone I met a talking bird, and I sorta promised him that we would paint his feathers a darker shade of black in exchange for directions to a possibly magic bear who might know something about the bizarre lights that may or may not be responsible for changing Mr. Nameless and me into animals."

* * *

Terry's expression became more and more perplexed as he recapped, almost as if saying it out loud had just brought into perspective how insane the whole thing sounded.

* * *

Kayden was about to say something, but before he could a small bird landed in front of Terry and said impatiently "Alright your friends are here, can we go now?"

* * *

"Um... Hi... My name is Holly Bower." Holly said, momentarily extending her hand before realising that a handshake would not be feasible.

* * *

"My name's Peter." The bird replied.

* * *

"Well... Nice to meet you Peter, you have a very nice coat of feathers." Holly said with a polite nod.

* * *

Peter looked away bashfully "Ah thanks miss. I wish the ladies agreed with you."

* * *

"Oh and, I'm Kayden by the way." Kayden interjected.

* * *

At first he was going to leave it at that, but then he realized something odd and just had to ask "Peter hu? That seems like an oddly human name for a bird."

* * *

Peter scoffed "No. Kayden is a rather bird sounding name for a… Whatever you are."

* * *

"Human and or saber tooth tiger." Kayden corrected under his breath.

* * *

"Anyway I'm done waiting, if you want to find the bear then follow me." Peter said as he flew off to a far away tree.

* * *

"Looks like we are going now." Terry said as he got up from his blanket "Hey Holly, could you go get the long distance radio and a sharpie?"

* * *

"I have the radio right here." Holly said tapping on the bulging pocket of her cargo pants "But why do we need a sharpie?"

* * *

"To pay the bird." Terry answered simply, as he walked in the direction of the tree Peter was sitting in.

* * *

"Um… Okay I guess." Holly said to herself as she quickly began sorting through all the supplies they had managed to collect, trying to get everything in order for a potentially long trip.

* * *

"Hey." she said suddenly "Look what I found in with the scraps of Terry's clothes."

* * *

Kayden shrugged "It's Terry's little stone bear. So what?"

* * *

"Well it's got me thinking." Holly mused as she continued with her packing "It was with us when I first found you two, and on the way back to camp, and it was with Terry when he met his little feathered friend."

* * *

Holly took off Kayden's newly emptied backpack and replaced it with the one she had just filled. "It seems to me that the only time we haven't been around this thing, was during our little tower of babel reenactment on our way back to the chopper."

* * *

"Oh I see what you're getting at." Kayden realised "You think that this thing is translating for us somehow."

* * *

"Yeah, it is a bit of a stretch." She admitted sheepishly.

* * *

Kayden cut her off quickly "No no no, it's a good theory."

* * *

"Here you keep ahold of it then. If this thing is some sort of babelfish then it should stay with someone who can't talk without it." Holly reasoned as she got up and looped it around his neck.

And with that the two of them caught up with Terry, who in turn had just caught up with Peter.

* * *

"So where do you want to be painted again?" Holly asked as she took out a sharpie pen from her bag.

* * *

"Just make the big spot on my chest darker." Peter requested enthusiastically.

* * *

As Holly undid the cap to the marker Kayden was reminded of just how much more sensitive his sense of smell was.

It wasn't that the scent of marker ink was particularly awful or anything, it was just a little shocking how intense it was.

* * *

"Here, perch on my finger and hold still." Holly instructed.

* * *

Peter seemed extremely cautious but did as he was asked. "You're not going to eat me are you?"

* * *

"No, I'm good." Holly muttered absentmindedly as she gently brushed the bird with the marker.

The sharpie only darkened his already black feathers by a few shades, but nevertheless Peter seemed extraordinarily pleased with the results.

* * *

"All done." Holly declared after no time at all, and with that Peter flew off without even saying thank you.

* * *

At first Kayden thought that the little critter was gone for good, but then he heard a delighted voice yell "Well? Aren't you coming?" from a distant tree.


	10. Chapter 10: Over And Out

"So you do know that stuff won't last forever right?" Holly said as they walked.

* * *

"How do you mean?" Peter asked.

* * *

"Well it may say, permanent marker, but from my experience it seems to fade in color after a few weeks." Holly explained "Although to be fair, that was on plastic... I'm not sure how well it sticks to feathers."

* * *

"A few weeks should fine." Peter said dismissively "I only need it till the end of the mating season."

* * *

"Also, you probably shouldn't put your face near your darkened feathers for extended periods of time." Holly said, rereading the text on the side of the sharpie. "I mean it says that it's non toxic, but I'm not sure if that's true for tiny birds."

* * *

"Yeah sure whatever." Was Peter's reply.

* * *

"Hey, is that my bear?" Terry asked after a few minutes of walking.

* * *

"Hm?" Kayden muttered before looking down at the figure around his neck "Oh yeah. We found it in with your stuff. We think it's what's letting us all talk to each other."

* * *

"I have had that thing almost my entire life." Terry said skeptically "And it has never done anything like that before."

* * *

"I don't know, maybe it only works in this place?" Kayden reasoned "I mean, it wouldn't be the craziest thing that happens here."

* * *

Terry looked down at his paws "Well that is certainly true."

* * *

He then looked back at Kayden "Either way I would like to have it back please."

* * *

"Sure." Kayden shrugged. "Hey Holly, could you give Terry his trinket back?"

* * *

"Alright." Holly sighed.

She was getting pretty sick of being the only one in the group with hands.

* * *

"Thanks, you're a real peach!" Kayden said with a toothy grin. "Oh speaking of peaches, I don't think any of us have eaten anything today. At some point we should really start thinking about breakf- nhg!"

* * *

"Oh sorry!" Holly apologized, after accidentally snagging the amulets chain on Kaydens teeth.

* * *

"It's quite alright." Kayden said with a characteristic chuckle. "I just want to know what we have to eat."

* * *

"Pretty much just granola bars." Holly admitted as she looped the bear around Terrys neck.

* * *

Kayden's ears flattened somewhat with disappointment "Yeah… I'm no paleontologist, but I'm pretty sure saber tooth tigers were strict carnivores."

* * *

He then turned to Terry "However I believe bears can eat nuts and berries and stuff, so you might be able to have some. You know... Just so long as they don't have any chocolate in them."

* * *

Terry scoffed "Have you ever seen a berry bush or nut tree in the arctic?"

* * *

"Fair point." Kayden admitted.

* * *

"Well if you're not going to eat them then can I have some?" Peter chirped in.

* * *

"Do you even know what a granola bar is?" Holly asked as she rifled through her bag.

* * *

"It's pretty self explanatory." Peter said dismissively.

* * *

"Alright." Holly shrugged as she opened the package of one of the few bars she had that did not contain chocolate.

She then broke off a small piece from the tip and handed it to Peter who greedily scoffed it down.

* * *

After their short little snack break they once again continued on their journey.

Despite the rough terrain they were actually making good time, traveling several miles in only a couple of hours.

Most of the improvement was due to Terry, who seemed to be either recovering from his injuries, or getting the hang of those four new legs of his.

* * *

And then all of a sudden the radio turned on to remind Holly of how jumpy she still was.

"Gah!" Holly winced before placing her hand on her chest and retrieving the radio from her pocket. "Yes we're here."

* * *

"Hi, my name is Ben Teiman. I'm just calling to tell you that we are on our way to come get you. Over." a friendly sounding canadian man said reassuringly.

* * *

"Oh thank you." Holly said with a sigh of relief "...um? Over."

* * *

Ben almost chuckled "We probably would have embarked sooner if we didn't have to track down a veterinarian who was willing to fly all the way out here. Speaking of which, I have been just dying to know… Why do you need the vet in the first place? Over."

* * *

Holly rubbed the back of her neck, she knew that she had to think of a believable story and fast. "Well you see ...ah… when our chopper went down we ...um... we hit a polar bear... Over."

She immediately regretted her answer.

* * *

"Holy crap!" Ben exclaimed so shocked that he forgot to say over.

* * *

"Yeah I know, weird right? Over." Holly exclaimed back.

She was a little shaken when she remembered that the truth was far more unlikely than her lie.

* * *

"I'll say!" Ben agreed "It's pretty rare to simply find a polar bear in those parts, let alone hit one! Is she hurt bad? Over."

* * *

"Nah, he is just a little scratched up is all." Holly said looking over to Terry. "Although he has lost a decent bit of blood. Over."

* * *

"Well I'm sure miss Boucher can patch him up. As for you, I wouldn't get too close to him. Yes he is hurt, and probably rather sedentary in that climate, but he could still easily kill a human if provoked. Over." he warned.

* * *

"We'll be safe. Over." Holly assured him.

* * *

"All you need to do is stay alive until we get to the coordinates you gave us." Ben joked. "Then we'll handle things from there. Over."

* * *

"Yeah about that..." Holly said sheepishly. "We kind of have been moving in a south western directing for the past two hours or so. Over."

* * *

Ben seemed a little ticked off "Why would you do that? Ugh nevermind… Just, stay where you are and keep your radio on, we will come get you. Over."

* * *

"Um…" Holly quickly turned Peter and asked in a hushed voice "How close are we?"

* * *

Peter tilted his head, somewhat confused by what she was doing "Very close, it's just over that rock then down a short ledge."

* * *

Holly nodded and put the radio back up to her mouth. "Alright we'll stay put... Over and out."


	11. Chapter 11: Very Distant Cousins

"We're stopping?" Terry asked somewhat confused.

* * *

"Yeah." Holly said with a grim nod "Just as soon as we get to where we're going."

With that she started walking again and Terry followed close behind her.

* * *

As they neared their destination Terry began to notice a particular scent.

One that he had became very familiar with when he first started learning how to cook.

* * *

"Do you smell-" he began only for Kayden to finish his question for him. "Smoke? Yeah I do."

* * *

"Oh no…" Holly groaned as she turned to look at the dense wilderness behind them "You don't think we accidentally started a forest fire do you?"

* * *

Kayden shook his head "No, our fire was completely dead when we left. Besides, I think the smell is coming from in there." He said while flicking his head in the direction of a rather wide cave.

* * *

Peter wasted no time flying up to its entrance and chirping "Hey Fred wake up."

* * *

The three of them cautiously joined Peter, and Terry soon realized that the cave was a lot shallower than its width would imply.

The high ceiling was stained black with decades worth of soot, the walls were checkered with almost ceremoniously placed paw prints, and the floor was littered with all manner of herbs, bones, and nicknacks.

But the very first thing that caught Terry's eye was a large brown ball of fur, curled up next to barely smoldering campfire.

* * *

"Peter?" the bear asked groggily.

He stirred from his slumber and yawned before saying in a frustrated growl "For the last time. I do not do love charms, so stop pestering me!"

* * *

"Well I'm fabulous now so I don't need you're stupid magic!" Peter tweeted bitterly before turning to Terry and saying "Welp, I held up my part of the bargain."

Then without even saying goodbye the little bird took off, and disappeared into the canopy.

* * *

"Wait a minute…" Fred said to himself as he suddenly jerked awake "How are we talking right now? The fire's not even-"

Fred froze as he turned to see the three of them standing outside his home. "Lit..."

* * *

There was a very long and awkward pause as they all just stood there.

Then, eventually, Holly held out her hand, coughed politely, and said "Hi, my name is Holly Bower. And I have to say-"

* * *

Fred cut her off, suddenly approaching her with a bright eyed enthusiasm. "Great lights above! You're a human aren't you?" He asked in total awe "You look a lot less floaty than I imagined."

* * *

Before Holly had a chance to ask him what on Earth he meant by that, he hastily turned his attention to Terry "AND YOU! You're an ice bear!"

* * *

Terry felt incredibly uncomfortable with the way Fred circled around him, sniffing him like a dog. "I always thought that your kind were just stories made up by mother bear's to excuse the unnaturally pale color of their cubs!"

* * *

Thankfully his attention was short and he moved onto Kayden "And you!"

Fred tilted his head to the side as his excitement turned into mild confusion "I… Don't actually know what kind of mythical creature you are... Sorry."

* * *

"That quite all right." Kayden mused "This guy and I were actually human as well. We came here hoping that you might know why that is no longer the case."

* * *

"I don't sorry." Fred admitted sheepishly "The only magic strong enough to do something like is the great lights, and they haven't touched the Earth in eons."

* * *

Terry and Kayden exchanged knowing glances, but before they had chance to start explaining the concept of a flying machine, Fred once again spoke up. "At least… That what transformed my greatest grandfather into a bear."

* * *

"Wait what?!" All of them asked in unison.

* * *

"Oh yeah. He used to be human just like you." Fred said before using his mouth to put some brambles on the last smolders of his fire. "You know what? Let me just start from the beginning."

Fred sat down next to the new flames and cleared his throat "This is the story of a boy who desperately wanted to become, a man."

* * *

Terry listed with growing unease as Fred artfully recounted a tale that was indistinguishable from his own family legend.

Every detail was the same, the only difference was that Fred told the story from the brothers perspective.

* * *

"And that is how my greatest grandfather became a man… by becoming a bear." Fred finished with a conclusive bow of the head.

It was only after he was done that he noticed the stunned faces of his guests. "What?"

* * *

Kayden was the one to break the silence this time. "Well Terry… It looks like you got a cousin." he said with an uncomfortable laugh.

* * *

"What? No!" Terry contested trying so very hard not to believe it himself.

* * *

"Cousin? What are you talking abou-" it was at that moment that Fred noticed the totem around Terry's neck.

Drawing towards it slowly he asked in a hushed voice "Is that what I think it is?"

* * *

Fred's expression melted into a teary eyed smile as he pounced Terry with a big ol bear hug.

"I knew it! I knew I still had family left!" Fred whispered, his voice overwhelmed by emotion.

* * *

Terry almost didn't hear him with how hard his ears were flattening against his head.


	12. Chapter 12: Magic Bear

"Holly." Kayden said with an amused smile "Get out your phone and take a picture of this."

* * *

"Why?" She asked, as she unstrapped the velcro of one of her pockets.

* * *

"Because it is funny and cute and the internet will love you for it." Kayden explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

* * *

Then his voice took on a far more serious tone. "Come to think of it, we really should be vlogging all of this… For historical reasons."

* * *

Holly fished her phone out of her pocket, and compliantly snapped a photo of Terry's humorously shocked face before asking. "Are you sure? I only have thirty seven percent charge left."

* * *

Without loosening his grip Fred moved his head to Terry's other shoulder, and gave them a confused look.

* * *

"Is there something wrong with your translation spell?" he asked "Because half of what you're saying makes no sense to me."

* * *

"Yeah about that… We don't actually know anything about spells or magic." Kayden admitted.

* * *

"What!?" Fred was so surprised that he let go of Terry, who quickly scrambled to the other side of the cave. "Then how on earth did you cast a translation spell?"

Fred started pacing, clearly getting a little agitated. "And a mobile spell no less… I mean, I've been training to be a shaman my whole life, and even I can't separate it from a fire yet!"

* * *

"No you don't understand, we didn't cast the spell. We have no idea where the spell even came from." Kayden explained quickly.

* * *

"We think it might have something to do with that bear totem, but we're not sure." Holly suggested.

* * *

"Oh." Fred said, seemingly reassured. "In that case…"

* * *

Fred threw some more logs on his fire, and began wandering around his cave collecting dried herbs that he had sloppily stacked in disorganized piles.

Once he was satisfied with his selection of mystery plants, he crushed them up with his front paws and tossed the powder into the blaze.

* * *

"I don't, actually believe in magic." Holly felt the need to mention right as the fire twisted with the phantasmal image of some sort of large feathered beasts, snaking in and out of the flames.

* * *

"What was that?" Fred asked, poking his head out from the other side of the spectacle.

Kayden couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he genuinely couldn't hear her over the roar of the fire.

* * *

After a few seconds, Fred walked up to Terry, who recoiled away from him defensively.

Fred didn't seem to notice however, as he snatched away the totem with his jaws and tossed it into the fire.

Terry gasped, worried that it might shatter when it hit the floor.

* * *

But to almost everyone's surprise the totem didn't even touch the ground.

Instead it stopped mid air, as if the fire itself had caught it.

Unintelligible whispering briefly flooded the room, their quiet voices indistinguishable as either human or animal.

* * *

"It's full of magic alright." Fred said appraisingly.

* * *

"So it is a translator?" Kayden asked.

* * *

Fred somehow managed to grab the totem from out of the fire without losing all the fur on his face, and placed it on the floor. "No, it's just supplying magic to a much older spell."

* * *

"Wait, what?" Kayden asked, more confused than before.

* * *

Fred nodded "Oh yeah. A long time ago this whole place was enchanted so that all animal could talk to each other."

* * *

"That sounds… Like it would be pretty awkward for the more predatory types." Holly noted uncomfortably.

* * *

Fred ignored her "The spell used to be fueled by the great lights, but as time wore down the mountain, the lights began touching the earth less often, and the spell stopped affecting certain species. Eventually the lights stopped touching the earth all together, and the spell stopped working completely."

* * *

Fred picked up the now sufficiently cooled amulet, and looped it back around Terry's neck. "I don't know how, but this totem is brimming with magic from the lights, and that magic is feeding the spell."

* * *

"Wait… Does that mean that this thing will run out of power?" Kayden asked, suddenly terrified.

* * *

"Yeah eventually." Fred said with a shrug "It could take days, or it could take decades. There's no way to tell for sure."

* * *

Kayden started to panic a little "This is not good… This is not good at all!"

* * *

"You're telling me." Terry agreed. "Even if this thing lasts for the rest of our lives, we will still be stuck in this freaky place or else it won't work."

* * *

"Don't worry cuz!" Fred began with a reassuring grin, but Terry cut him off venomously. "Do NOT call me that."

* * *

Fred cleared his throat, somewhat taken aback by his cousin's sudden hostility "As I was saying. My magic doesn't require power from the lights, so I should be able to do it anywhere that I can build a fire."

* * *

Kayden breathed a sigh of relief "And you would do that for us?"

* * *

"Of course! I would do anything for fam… " Fred glanced awkwardly at Terry's uncomfortable expression and sighed.

"For a friend." he continued with a sad smile.


	13. Chapter 13: Anxious Anticipation

"Yeah, I'm looking at it now." Ben Teiman shouted into the radio. "Large green tent next a smaller blue one, with a fire pit between them, and a yellow tarp-ish looking thing lying on the ground nearby… right? Over."

* * *

"Yep that's ours all right." The strange woman confirmed "Just head south west from there and you should get to us in no time at all."

* * *

Without removing the radio from his ear Teiman tapped his pilot on the shoulder and pointed in the direction that they needed to go.

* * *

She continued "Once you get close enough we'll send up some flairs, so keep an eye of for those."

The woman's voice got noticeably more urgent as she added "But if you see any other lights, especially anything that looks like an aurora, then you'll have to get your chopper down on the ground ASAP! Don't ask me why just… just trust me on this one... Over."

* * *

Teiman raised an eyebrow at the strange instructions, but for whatever reason he decided not to question her advice. "Will do. Over."

* * *

There was something about this whole ordeal that just didn't sit right with him.

The strange requests, the unlikely stories about polar bears, the unusually nervous sound of her voice…

Sure, it was normal for people to be upset in an emergency situation, but Ben just couldn't shake this feeling that she was hiding something.

If he were to judge purely off of instinct Ben would think that they were mixed up in some kind criminal activity before their accident.

Assuming there even was an accident.

* * *

Ben pondered this for a while before catching sight of a bright red light flaring up above the trees.

Ben lightly tapped his pilot on the shoulder but before he could speak Thomas nodded and said in french. "Yeah I see it, just give me a second."

With that he began slowly and ever so carefully descending between the evergreens.

* * *

"You want to come with me?" Ben asked once they were firmly on the ground.

* * *

"Alright." Thomas shrugged.

* * *

"Remember to take the keys with you." Ben said offhandedly before switching back to english and asking Miss Boucher "You don't mind waiting here by yourself do you?"

* * *

"Oh no not at all." she replied with a warm smile.

Something about the veterinarian's small voice, round features, silver streaked hair, and tiny lensed glasses reminded him of a mouse from a children's book.

* * *

Ben gave her a small nod "Alright, just stay in here then, and don't open the door for anyone but us two okay?"

* * *

"Okay?" Boucher said with a confused raise of her eyebrow.

She looked like she was going to ask him why, but then decided against it.

* * *

A cold rush of clean mountain air enveloped Ben as he stepped out of the vehicle, prompting him to zip his jacket up to the collar.

He then gave Thomas a quick hand gesture and said "Allons-y." while starting in the direction of now burnt out red light.

* * *

"HELLO?" he hollered repeatedly as they walked and it didn't take very long for him to hear distant but familiar voice call back "Hello?"

* * *

The voice grew louder and louder until Ben was finally face to face with the nervous looking woman.

She was significantly taller than Boucher, which put her at about average height.

Her muted blonde hair was tied into what was once probably a rather tidy ponytail.

Over all she looked like the kind of person a director would cast in a movie if they wanted someone who was pretty, but not so much so that they would outshine the main female lead.

* * *

"Hi." she said again, glancing behind her awkwardly.

* * *

"Hi…" Ben responded.

* * *

Something was definitely wrong, and not in the way you would expect from an accident survivor.

The woman gave him the impression that she wanted to tell him some kind of deep personal secret, but was worried that he wouldn't accept her afterwards.

It was very uncomfortable, especially from a total stranger.

* * *

Needing to clear the silence Ben looked around and asked in as casual a tone as he could muster "So... You said there were three of you? Where are the others?"

* * *

The woman blinked as her mind was taken off of whatever it was that she was trying to say before. "Oh ah… They're a just little ways back in the cave with… Fred..."

Her voice trailed off on that last word, suddenly getting all uncomfortable and quiet.

* * *

"Who is Fred?" Ben asked and to his surprise Thomas was the next one to speak.

* * *

"Is that what you named the polar bear?" he asked in perfect english.

* * *

He didn't even have an overly thick accent.

* * *

Ben whipped around violently to look at him, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

Thomas in turn stepped back and reflexively sank into a slightly more defensive posture.

* * *

"What?" he asked, once again in english clear enough to convey just how flustered he was by his coworkers sudden surprise. "What's wrong?"

* * *

Ben blinked rapidly a couple times before practically shouting in a slightly shrill, almost outraged tone "Since when do you know how to speak english?"

* * *

Thomas's expression and posture melted into one of pure confusion as he answered "I don't."

He then held out his hand as if he were trying to calm down a crazy person and explained quite clearly. "We're speaking french right now."

He then turned to the woman and asked pleadingly "Aren't we?"

* * *

She seemed to relax in a sort of somber way, as if she had spent weeks anticipating a terrible storm that had just hit.

"Hu… I thought it's range was a lot shorter than that." she murmured with a sigh.


	14. Chapter 14: Myths And Stories

So yeah, here is a new chapter to this not-quite-so-dead-after-all project.

* * *

I have also updated the older chapters to have, uh, paragraphs? Ish?

So hopefully it will be easier to read, if not then be sure to tell me in the comments below.

* * *

As a side note, I'd like to say that I HATE this website with a burning passion.

* * *

Anyway back to the story.

* * *

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

Fred could tell that the human language was a lot more complex and advanced than what his kind used.

Normally the translation spell would smooth things over, to a near frightening degree of familiarity, but this time it seemed to be nearing its limits.

* * *

Entire breaths worth of ideas and information were being conveyed in mere seconds, which made it impossible for the spell to put the things in terms that Fred could understand, without significantly stretching his perception of the passage of time.

Sometimes the spell would just glitch out entirely, only for it to start working again a few moments later, once the conversation had moved back to concepts that Fred could wrap his head around.

* * *

"Okay let me get straight." Fred said with a sharp tilt of his head "Humans cannot fly, but you still managed to touch the great lights because you had a 'helicopter' which is like, a big flying nest. A nest that humans can build out of shiny rocks called metal, ice that never melts called glass, and a type of oil, fiber, stone, stuff called plastic?"

* * *

"Yeah. Something like that." Kayden agreed with a shrug "Now... How, when, where, and why, did you learn to use 'magic'? And what is it exactly?"

* * *

Fred was puzzled by the question.

After all, he was just a lowly shaman, and they were godlike beings of unthinkable power.

What could he possibly teach them about magic that they didn't already know themselves?

Still he felt it best to answer him honestly and sincerely "Well my dad had been teaching me the mystic arts since I was just a cub... Apparently it's a bit weird for a father bear to stay with his cubs like that, but it's a very strong tradition in my family. One that goes all the way back to our human ancestors."

* * *

A self pitying little grown came from Terry as he tried his best to fold in on himself.

* * *

"As for the where, well... I learned in this very cave." Fred continued "Same as of those who came before me." he added with a nod to the pawprints on the wall.

"But I have heard stories of when the mountain was taller. Back then the shamans of the past could climb its peaks and practice their craft under the watchful gaze of the spirits themselves."

* * *

"Spirits?" Kayden asked, excitement and curiosity glinting in his eyes.

* * *

Fred shrugged "Yeah you know... The specters in the sky? The driving force behind all change in this world? The ghosts of those who were, and the souls of those still waiting to be?"

He raised an eyebrow "Surely a race as advanced and wise as yours knows about the spirit world... Right?"

* * *

Kayden got up and began pacing about the cave "Well sure, almost every culture on earth has at least a story, legend, reference, or belief in an afterlife of some kind. But no one has ever been able to conclusively prove its existence before."

* * *

Fred sat back and gave the cat an unimpressed look "I don't know how humans do things, but having one form exchanged for another seems like pretty solid conformation to me."

* * *

"Oh come on!" Terry blurted out angrily "You can't seriously be saying that we got shapeshifted because we flew too close to what is essentially heaven. That's completely ridiculous!"

* * *

Fred put his paw to his chin "It does seem a bit strange… In the stories the spirits never did anything that big without a good reason. So why would-"

* * *

Fred's thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of quickly approaching voices.

* * *

"Something- something- a little hard to believe." said an unfamiliar male voice.

* * *

"Believe me, it's just as hard to believe it myself." answered Holly before shouting "Come on out boys, we got company."

* * *

The three of them exited the cave to meet the two new human males, who were now staring at them with wide eyes.

"Wha-" one began only to be stunned speechless by Kayden blurting out "Howdy fellas!" with an enthusiastic grin.

* * *

Baffled looks were exchanged between the two of them as Terry, Holly, and Kayden tried to explain the entire situation.

* * *

After all was said and done, the taller of the two newcomers turned to his partner and said soberly "Well... If this is a prank… Then it has got to be, the single greatest prank, ever… Of all time."

* * *

Kayden chucked "I'll say. We'd either have to be the world's most advanced animatronics, or we'd have to be actual real life animals that had been so impossibly well trained that we could lip sync perfectly with some kind of hidden speaker system."

He then looked at his paws and added thoughtfully "Come to think of it, there aren't even any saber toothed tigers around anymore. So yeah, we would have to be robots of some kind."

* * *

Before Fred could figure out what the words "animatronics", "speaker system", and "robots" were even supposed to mean, Terry cut in and asked "Can we wrap this up please? Because incase you haven't noticed I'm still in need of proper medical care."

* * *

"Oh right." Muttered several people, as the group began preparing for their trip back to the human lands.

* * *

Fred brimmed with excitement as he gathered up his entire collection of herbs.

It was just now starting to sink in.

He was going to personally see the human world of myth and legend.

The flat rivers of black and yellow stone, the shimmering treachery of summer ice, the perplexing meadows that grow rows of only one plant, the roaring dragons of human craft, and maybe even the notoriously rare, multicolored skyfire of the screaming night.

If even just half of those stories were true, then Fred was in for the adventure of a lifetime!

* * *

"You need help with that?" asked the shorter of the two new men in a nervous voice.

* * *

"Sure" admitted Fred, as he watched the man shed the topmost layer of his rather odd looking fur, not unlike a snake shedding its skin, only much faster.

He then placed the pelt on the ground, gathered up all of the herbs on top of it, and rolled the whole thing into a tight little ball that he neatly tucked under his arm.

* * *

"Who are you?" Fred asked in awe, impressed by the fact that he could so easily carry several trips worth of stuff, while still somehow keeping both his hands free.

* * *

"Ben Teiman." He said half heartedly, as he began walking back outside.

* * *

The humans talked with each other the whole way, and Fred did his best to follow the conversation.

But a good chunk of it simply flew right over his head.

* * *

Then eventually Fred spotted something strange in the distance.

* * *

It didn't look like a nest so much as a very odd, very massive skull.

A single horn protruded from the very top of the strange thing, which branched out at an abruptly sharp angle into several flat blades that were positioned in a circle.

It had a tail like spike at the back, which widened at the very end.

It didn't seem to have a jaw, but it did have two perfectly flat frills witch solidly held it a few inches above the ground.

And the whole thing shined, like some kind of mockingly bright orange bird.

* * *

"Is that a helicopter?" Fred asked in total amazement.

* * *

"Yeah." Teiman replied without breaking stride.

* * *

"That thing can fly?" Fred questioned skeptically.

* * *

"Yeap. As long as you feed it this liquid firewood stuff called gasoline." Explained Kayden as he too passed by.

* * *

"BUT IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANY WINGS!" Fred exclaimed in total disbelief.

* * *

Either they were all just crazy, or the stories were true, and humans really could do anything.


	15. Chapter 15: Grey Hair Trigger

Well its certainly been a while since I did anything with this.

* * *

I actually had this chapter sitting half finished in my google doc for... What? Almost a year now?

But I was only recently inspired to finish it because of a nice comment that showed up out of the blue yesterday.

* * *

Oh and to answer their question about why a hate this website.

Its because its buggy, confusing as all hell, and it forces you to format your story in its pre-set, tyrannically dictated, way.

* * *

So now I've got all these lines running through my story just so I don't have to clump up all my words up in _"proper"_ paragraphs.

* * *

Also I have no idea where to put more... Personable messages.

Because authors notes are too official seeming for my tastes, and I'm still hung up on whether or not people would even see things that I post in the review section.

* * *

Anyway enough rambling.

* * *

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

Amy L. Boucher sat alone in the back seat of the rescue helicopter, and anxiously double checked her tranquilizing gear to make sure that she had everything in order.

* * *

She could count on one hand the number of polar bears that she had subdued before, and all but one of them were in a captive setting.

The procedure wasn't all that different from tranquing the smaller, more local types of bears, and that was a job which Amy could practically do in her sleep.

* * *

But still she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

* * *

Amy took in a deep breath through her nose and steadied herself.

She was a professional.

She knew what she needed to do and was skilled at doing it.

Sure there were always risks involved, but as long as she kept her calm, and respected the fact that she was dealing with a dangerous wild animal who could kill her in a heartbeat if given the chance, then things should work out alright.

* * *

Amy took off her glasses and began cleaning them against her sweater.

She wasn't going to wear them while shooting, as they only helped her see things up close, but she still found it relaxing.

* * *

She didn't say anything at the time, but she could tell that there was something bothering the young ranger.

And his unexplained anxiety was infectious.

* * *

Amy shook her head and straightened her posture as she tried to find something else to occupy herself with until the others got back.

* * *

The woods outside were beautiful and wild, untouched by man for who knows how long.

Dark shadows loomed over the forest floor, protecting the remaining snow from the harshly bright touch of the midday sun.

Somewhere far away a brook babbled in an unsteady rhythm, and all around her birds sang to each other, their flittering calls muffled by the glass of the helicopters windows.

* * *

It was peaceful, and soon all of Amy's unease was washed away by nature's hypnotic atmosphere.

* * *

Then, in one frighteningly synchronized instant, every single chirp of wildlife fell dead silent, and the woods were flooded by the sudden sounds of conversation.

Maybe a couple hundred human voices surrounded her, their distant and illegible words blending together into a seamless din of only slightly agitated chatter.

* * *

The switch was so subtle that she could have easily missed it if she wasn't actively listening to her surroundings.

Yet that did not stop her from jumping out of her seat, as her heart started pounding in a startled panic.

* * *

Amy frantically scanned her surroundings, looking for any trace of the unsettling flash mob.

But she saw nothing.

"Who's there?" she demanded, her own voice shaking somewhat.

* * *

A couple of the closest voices momentarily fell silent at her question, but no noticeable reply answered her.

* * *

For a moment she thought about stepping outside and asking again, but the rangers odd warning not to open the door for anyone other than himself or the pilot pressed itself heavily to the front of her mind.

So instead she just took up her rifle and prepared a shot in case she needed to defend herself.

* * *

For almost half an hour Amy tried her best to pick out bits of conversation from the scattered crowd surrounding her, but it was near impossible save for the occasional load shriek of something totally random like, "EGG!" or "Him!" or "Mine!"

But most disturbing of all, she thought she heard someone cry for help more than once.

* * *

Then she thought she saw something moving in the distance.

The rustle of foliage, flecks of a bright orange visibility vest, a figure walking, a man walking, a ranger walking.

* * *

Amy closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief.

The rescue party was back.

* * *

She opened her eyes again and begin trying to peer into the forest behind them.

There was a disheveled looking woman.

No doubt the one the ranger kept talking to on the radio.

But there was something else…

Something short and well camouflaged, that moved quickly beside them.

* * *

Before she could figure out what it was, Amy caught sight of something big and white lumbering into view.

Her heart sank with dread.

The polar bear had somehow snuck up on them.

* * *

This time Amy ignored her instructions to keep the door shut.

* * *

Without even thinking she stepped out from the chopper, aimed her rifle, and shouted "GET DOWN!" as load as she could.

* * *

To her surprise the ranger looked at her, looked back at the bear, dropped the thing he was carrying, then turned back at her with his armed raised and barked back an echoing command to "stop!"

* * *

The first thing Amy's brain registered was the fact that she didn't have a clear shot, second was the rangers strange reaction to realizing that he was only a few feet from a wild polar bear, and third was the confused looking grizzly bear casually walking with them as if he belonged there.

* * *

Amy lowered her rifle and just gapped at the bizarre group for a while, then exclaimed the first thing that came to mind.

* * *

"What the polka dots?"


	16. Chapter 16: Honestly

I still find this site awkward as hell to use, and I still have no clue how to respond to someone in a less public manner then an author's note.

* * *

So bear with me.

* * *

To those of you whom it might concern.

I never stopped writing, I was simply writing other things for a while.

* * *

That said, I have found some renewed interest in writing more of this particular project.

Because a certain numerically unlucky font choice, decided voice their interest in my story by sharing a few kind words.

* * *

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

* * *

Ben turned to look at the toothy cat guy "You want to bring the vet up to speed?"

* * *

"Sure." He chuckled nervously "Just so long as she promises not to shoot me."

* * *

Miss Boucher whipped her head around to incredulously stare at the cursed cat man in utter surprise. "Did… Did it just?"

* * *

Ben walked up beside the bewildered veterinarian and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Yes… Yes he did."

As an afterthought he added "You may want to sit down for this." Before moving past her to get in to the helicopter.

* * *

Ben listened in on their conversation as he searched the cargo hold for the equipment he needed.

The cat guy was doing his best to explain why he was a cat, while sharing his theories about aliens and psychics.

Boucher seemed understandably shaken, but at least she was dealing with it well enough to keep asking questions.

* * *

They were all very good questions too, though it wasn't like those were in short supply today.

It was just too bad that no one had any good answers for them.

* * *

Well… The bear tried to answer a few… the true bear, not the bear guy… but they all seemed be a little on the religious or mythological side of things.

* * *

Ben would have never guessed that bears thought deeply enough about the world to form something as complex as a religion.

But there one was, rambling on about the hereafter, the will of the spirits, and fate.

* * *

Which of course begged the question.

What kind of beliefs, if any, did his pet cats have?

After all, they presumably had way more free time to think about such things.

Then again, neither Tina nor Fresk seemed to be the thoughtful type.

Though that could have just been him projecting his own interpretations of thoughtfulness upon them.

* * *

Ben retrieved the single booster, and begin seeing up the satellite dish.

As he did he found himself remembering every animal he had ever met in his life.

He wondered what they would say, if they could talk to him.

More importantly, he wondered how much his behavior would change in that scenario.

* * *

He was definitely going to go vegan after this.

* * *

Ben shook his head.

He knew people who believed that animals weren't sentient.

So how would they respond to the talking bears?

* * *

Bed had to stop for a second and recatch his balance.

This was going to stir up a firestorm of ethical debates that would put even the abolition movement to shame.

* * *

The true bear made a remark about him and the bear guy being cousins, and the human one groaned uncomfortably.

'Perhaps he meant that they had become cousins, in that they were both bears now?'

* * *

Ben considered asking about it, but decided not to.

* * *

Whatever answer he'd get would undoubtedly result in more questions.

And he honestly had way to many of those swimming around in his head already.

* * *

No… The best thing he could do was get them out of the woods, and back to civilization.

Then he could pass them to off to some kind of higher authority.

He knew that there wasn't anyone in the world who was qualified for this ridiculous and absurd scenario, but at least then he wouldn't have to be the one to deal with it.

* * *

Ben finished setting up the signal booster, and fiddled with the bluetooth settings of his phone.

* * *

Then he shuddered.

* * *

Regardless of what else the future held, these next few minutes were going to be… Awkward.

* * *

Ring... Ring... Ring…

* * *

"Hello, you have reached the na-"

* * *

Ben stopped the familiar voice from continuing her well rehearsed preamble. "Hey Alicen, it's me."

* * *

Alicen's voice instantly changed to something a little more casual "Heeeey, Benjamin. How you doing? You found those american tourists already eh?"

* * *

Ben glanced back at the supremely bizarre group of persons behind him.

"Yes, but we seem to have hit a bit of a snag."

* * *

Alicen's voice took on a slightly more concerned quality.

"What's wrong?" she asked before adding in a hint of suspicion to her tone "And does it have anything to do with that strange request for a predator doctor?"

* * *

"Kinda, I guess." Ben admitted through clenched teeth.

He sighed "Look. Let me just cut to the chase. We need another chopper, one with at least an extra 200 pounds of carrying capacity."

* * *

"Get one that is refrigerated if you can." Miss Boucher hollered "This one is going to need someplace cold."

* * *

Ben flashed her a quick thumbs up before relaying the message "Look for something that has a large refrigerated section, or if you can't find one, then just get something bigger and bring along a few good air conditioning units."

* * *

Silence rang through the phone for a good half a minute before Alicen said "That's uhh… A rather strange request."

There were ten more seconds of silence before she asked "Do you mind telling me why you need it?"

* * *

Ben squared his shoulders and steeled his nerves.

* * *

This was the part he was dreading.

* * *

"Because two of the tourists got themselves magically transformed into animals. One of which being a two ton polar bear." He said in a deadpan voice.

* * *

Ben thought he heard Alicen choke on something, as the blond American woman… Harley something… stormed up to him and practically hissed. "What are you doing?"

* * *

The apparently natural born bear kinda sniffed at him and said "He is holding a rock to his ear while talking to himself."

He tilted his head and somehow looked apologetic "I would have told you sooner, but I just assumed it was a human thing."

* * *

That reminded Ben "Oh yeah, they also found a talking bear who can do magic spells or something. We're taking him with us which is one of the main reasons why we need more weight capacity."

* * *

"You're kidding right?" Alicen pleaded, but Ben could barely hear her over the blond woman's fretting.

* * *

"You can't just tell them that, they'll think you're crazy!"

* * *

The grizzly shot her a worried look and asked "Who is... They?"

* * *

At the same time Ben gave her a flat look and asked "So what?"

* * *

The american ignored the bear, in favor of answering the ranger "Because then they'll just assume the whole thing is a practical joke."

Her face colored somewhat in frustration "Honestly now, would you have really come all this way out here if we had been upfront with you from the start?"

* * *

Ben glared at her dead in the eyes.

After a few heartbeats he said sternly "Yes."

It was a simple answer, but his voice rang with conviction and maybe a little offence.

* * *

"Oh. Well uh…" the woman's face colored even more, this time from embarrassment. "Really?"

* * *

Ben gave her a little shrug.

"Of course I would, it's my job. Though admittedly, I would have assumed you were all a bunch of loons till I actually got here, and saw the talking animals for myself."

* * *

After a few second of silence Ben put the phone back up to his ear and said "Sorry about that, you were saying?"

* * *

"He is doing it again." The grizzly said, in a hushed, worried, confused voice.

But just like before, everyone ignored him.

* * *

"Oh that's no problem sir, I'll get right on that." Alicen said in a mockingly innocent voice.

She talked as if she were pointing out plot holes in a silly hypothetical.

"Of course, it's unlikely that the government would be willing to spend such a large amount of Canadian tax money on a wild claim like that."

Ben could practically feel the smug grin on her face as she added "So you'll have to pay for it yourself."

* * *

Without a hint of hesitation or satire Ben simply said "Sure, I'm good for it."

* * *

Alicen chuckled playfully "I almost want to call your bluff, and actually call up an extra helicopter. Just to spite you."

* * *

"I'm serious Alicen." Ben growled impatiently "You can take it out of my pay if you want, just make the call."

He sighed heavily "Just trust me on this please? This is important..."

* * *

In an instant all the good humored smugness drained from Alicen's voice.

"Chief!" she worriedly called to someone in another room "There is something wrong with Teiman."

* * *

A little pit formed in the bottom of Ben's stomach and, although he would never admit it out loud, he was beginning to think that complete honesty might not have been as good an idea as he first thought.

* * *

"I think he's gone mad..." both the bear and Alicen concluded simultaneously.


	17. Chapter 17: Getting Up To Speed

Yes, I did post chapter 17 at the exact same time as chapter 18.

Yes, I have had it sitting fully completed in my google drive for weeks now.

And yes, I am that lazy that I couldn't be bother posting it until now.

#

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

#

The ranger put a reassuring hand on Amy's shoulder as he flashed her a sympathetic smile.

"You may want to sit down for this." He said, before moving past her to rummage through the luggage in the helicopter.  
#

The cougar… no… the saber tooth _tiger_ gave her an apologetic little bow before speaking again.

It wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her, the cat really was talking, and apparently other people could hear it too.

#

In strict opposition to all common sense, the prehistoric tiger uncomfortably shifted its weight and said.

"Yeah so… Let me just start by saying that I am, er, was, human. Though as you can see that is no longer the case."

#

It looked down at its paws and chuckled awkwardly.

"Don't ask me how, cause I'm still working on figuring that bit out."

#

Amy didn't move, she couldn't move, she was just frozen where she stood.

She gapped at the impossible creature as it tried to make polite conversation with her.

"I know it's a lot to take in. We've all been through it... well... we are still going through it really."

#

He half smiled, it was actually terrifying just how human the expression seemed.

"Except for him perhaps. He seems to be taking this whole confusing mess in stride." the cat flicked his head towards the awestruck grizzly bear, who was currently sniffing at the helicopter with a great deal of interest, and maybe even a bit of reverence.

#

"Was he a human as well?" she asked automatically.

She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth, even as she said them.

Well actually, it wasn't the words themselves that she had a problem with, or even the sentiment.

#

The question would be perfectly reasonable if she were talking with her friends back in highschool about a dungeons and dragons campaign, or discussing a children's book with her grandkids.

#

No the words weren't the problem, it was the circumstance that prompted her to say them.

The flat out impossible circumstance that had no proper right to exist outside of fiction.

#

Amy realized that the cat had said something else, but she had completely zoned him out while trying to wrestle with the idea that he could say anything at all.

"Say again? And also HOW?"

#

The cat seemed a little taken aback, "Because my parents were weirdos that thought it would be cool or something?"

He laughed a confused little laugh and tiled his head like a dog "Honestly wasn't expecting my name to be stranger to you then the wizard bear but okay."

#

"Bear what now?" Amy blinked "Sorry, I didn't catch you name… I just… What is going on?"

#

The world was spinning.

She wanted to take the rangers advice and sit down, but she felt as if trying to move either leg even one inch into that swirling void of uncertainty around her would only result in her falling onto the cold hard ground.

#

"Okay that's not good, um…" The cat flicked his eyes around worriedly before retaining his gaze on Amy "Pardon me mis, but I think you're slipping into shock or something."

#

Amy watched the world spin.

She didn't dare nod but internally she had to agree with his assessment.

#

The cat seemed lost for a moment but quickly came up with a suggestion.

"Try closing your eyes... Pretend that I'm still human while we talk, or better yet, pretend that you're dreaming for a while."

#

At first Amy was scared to try it, but eventually she had to blink.

After that it was a simple matter of not opening her eyes again afterward.

"O-Okay…" she stammered "Okay I think that helps."

#

The man made a sound that could have been paired with an approving nod.

"Good… I suppose I'll start over then."

He cleared his throat "My name is Kayden Nameless, I'm an author from Detroit. Me and two others traveled here in hopes of learning more about a rather peculiar medellin. Late last night we noticed a strange phenomenon in the sky, so me and my camera man flew up towards it, to get a better look at it and-"

#

"Hold on." Amy cut him off. "What was in the sky?"

#

She could practically feel the excitement in Kayden's voice building "We're not sure. It looked kinda like an aurora, except it was chalk full of holographic animals."

#

"Yeap, that's what the vale between worlds looks like." an unfamiliar voice said pointedly. "I'm still not sure why the ancestral spirits decided to change them the way they did. I mean... It's unlike them to alter people's fate so drastically you know?"

#

Amy kept her eyes tight shut "Who is that? What is he talking about?"

#

"That's Fred." Kayden answered immediately "He's a… a local."

There was a moment of silence before Kayden spoke again "He knows more about what's going on then us."

He inhaled sharply through even sharper teeth "However… He is not exactly what one would call a reliable source."

#

Fred let out an irritated little sneezing sound, but made no attempt to defend himself.

#

Kayden continued conspiratorially "My own personal theory is that these 'ancestral spirits' he's talking about were actually a super advanced alien race that visited this planet thousands, perhaps millions of years ago."

#

Amy opened her mouth to speak but Kayden quickly cut her off.

"Now I know it's far fetched, but there is all sorts of convincing evidence that several ancient cultures were visited by extraterrestrials. The egyptians for example were-"

#

"K!" A woman's voice snapped "For the last time. The great pyramids, were not, built, by aliens."

This was a rather old argument from the sounds of it. "Besides you've already seen Fred use magic, so why do aliens have to be involved?"

#

"All science is magic to those who don't understand it!" Kayden recited vigorously "Perhaps Fred is gifted with extra sensory powers? You know, physic stuff. There are already well documented cases of-"

#

Its seemed like Kayden wanted to keep talking, but a timid voice from earlier meekly interjected "Um, I'm not sure what any of that means... So could please explain to me what the stuff that you just said I had is?"

He hesitated "Actually maybe you should tell me later... And you should probably see to it that my cousin doesn't die."

#

A third male voice, who had remained silent until now, groaned very loudly "How many times do I have to tell you? We are NOT cousins!"

#

Amy couldn't help it, she had to open her eyes.

When she did she saw a small to mid sized grizzly bear, who was shying away from a much larger, more irritated looking, battered up, polar bear with a wooden bear necklace.

All in all, it was a lot more bear than she would have expected or preferred to be so close to.

#

Amy's immediate reaction was to close her eyes again, and go back to pretending.

She was drowning in a torrent of doubt, fear, and confusion.

But something gave her the stability she needed to keep them open.

#

There was a injured creature naught but a few feet away from her, and it needed her help.

That was her job was it not, regardless of anything else that may or may not be happening?

Amy took in a deep, steadying breath, and focused entirely on that simple, universal truth.

#

She was a veterinarian, she had a patient… and that was good enough for her.


	18. Chapter 18: Ursine Introductions

I prolly should hold this one back a few days so as to… I don't know… drum up hype or something?

Perhaps make it look like I'm actually working on this with any degree of regularity?

#

But in truth I'm too lazy for that, and besides…

I would most likely forget to post it until a month later anyway.

#

So, if you're still keeping up with my little dispassion project, enjoy these two short chapters.

#

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

#

Terry could see something snap in the old woman as she quickly blinked the shock from her eyes.

"You… um… Tremblay, was it?" she ask with one finger pointed at the taller ranger "Would you mind getting my things from the helicopter?"

#

Tremblay flashed her a quick nod before scampering of to his task.

#

As he left, Holly approached her with her hand outstretched.

"Hello, my name is Holly Bower by the way."

#

The woman shook her hand absentmindedly and said "Amy Boucher."

She was very polite about it, but Terry got the distinct imprison that she didn't really want to talk at the moment.

#

"Nice hair clips. Very... festive." Holly added, before wandering of to go watch one of the rangers fiddle around with some kind of disassembled radio dish.

#

"My name is Terry Skip-" Terry begin, but miss Boucher cut him off.

#

"Maybe you can just… Tell me later." She said with an apologetic wave of her hand "I'm still finding this all a little… overwhelming."

#

Terry did his best quadrupedal impression of a shrug "Fair enough."

#

Mr. Tremblay returned with an armful of boxes stacked on top of each other, and wordlessly set them down beside miss Boucher.

#

"Thank you dear." She said gratefully before selecting out a specific one from the bunch.

Then she ever so cautiously approached Terry and began dressing his wounds.

#

"So what is that?" Fred asked with great deal of intrigue.

Amy visibly tensed up as he muscled his way up to her to sniff at the bandages she was holding "I don't think I've ever seen any plants quite like those."

#

"Fred!" Terry snapped "Go somewhere else."

#

Fred jumped back a pace then whined "But I want to see the human practice medicine."

#

"Now!" Terry insisted.

#

Fred huffed in disappointment then turned and skulked off to go check out the helicopter more.

But part way there he stopped and turned to miss Boucher. "Don't let him die okay?" he pleaded honestly "I know he can real jerk sometimes, but he is the only family I've got."

#

Miss Boucher gave him a silent nod, then turned back to her work as he left.

#

She didn't say anything but Terry could tell something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, "Is there actually a chance I could die from this?"

It seemed unlikely to him as it was only a few cuts, but then again, he didn't know much about polar bears.

He was no doctor either, so there was also the possibility that his wounds were deeper than he thought.

#

Thankfully though, she shook her head "No you should be fine it's just…" she hesitated for a moment, as if she were about to ask a really stupid question. "Fred… what is up with him? Is he-"

#

Terry cut her off "Yes he really is a bear, no he wasn't human like me and nameless, yes it appears as if he can use magic, no he can't use that to change us back, and no... despite what he might tell himself... He is not really my cousin."

#

Miss Boucher nodded automatically "Oh I- I see."

See seemed frightened by Terry's sudden hostility.

And honestly, the worst part was that he couldn't blame her for being frightened by him.

#

Terry sighed and his tone softened "I'm sorry ma'am… it's just..."

He paused to search for the right words "It's just that I've been having a really rough day."

#

She relaxed somewhat and smiled at him understandingly "That's quite alright, honestly I'm not sure if I would be able to function at all if I had to walk in your shoes."

#

Terry didn't so much chuckle as let out a single small slightly amused breath, as he lifted his paw to make it easier for miss Boucher to reach a shallow cut between his collar and underarm.

"I can't even walk in my own shoes anymore. They got ripped to shreds when my feet… ahh… stopped being feet."

#

Miss Boucher winced "Did that... hurt?"

#

Terry shook his head "Not at the time, no. Though barreling through a broken windshield didn't hurt at the time either."

He felt a little embarrassed "I wasn't... exactly thinking straight when I first realized what had happened to me."

#

Boucher looked at him with concern "And now?"

#

Terry's ears and expression flattened "Now everything I do hurts, I'm tired, I'm confused, my body feels entirely unfamiliar to me, and more than anything else, I feel like I'm going to die from heat stroke."

#

Boucher smiled sympathetically "A thick layer of blubber would do that."

#

"Tell me about it." Terry complained.

He then perked up slightly "Hey. Do you think I'd burn it off if I just don't eat anything for a while?"

#

Boucher shook her head "Unfortunately you would likely die of starvation long before that could happen."

#

Terry flopped down on the ground and sighed "Whatever… I don't plan on being a bear that long anyway."

#

Boucher gave him a side eyed glance "So you know how you're going to get changed back then?"

#

Terry squirmed uncomfortably "Well not exactly. But I doubt that this spell, or curse, or whatever is permanent… at least… I hope it's not permanent…"

There was silence for a few moments before Terry had to start actively suppressing a scream.

"Oh god, oh god!" he murmured frantically "This could be permanent, couldn't it? I mean it's not like I have a valid reason to believe that it won't be!"

#

Miss Boucher inched away from him cautiously, though she clearly felt sympathy for him.

"You can't think like that." She advised him "There is no way to tell what the future holds, especially not now... All you can do is try to find some way to improve your situation in the moment."

#

Terry gave her a confused look "Like?"

#

"Like…" she echoed him while looking around for something to demonstrate her point.

It took a little while as she seemed to get distracted listening to what the ranger was saying on the phone.

But eventually she did speak up again, she just wasn't talking to Terry anymore "Get one that is refrigerated if you can. This one is going to need someplace cold."

#

It took Terry a second to put two and two together, but once he did he started smiling at the thought of being at a comfortable temperature for a change.

He bowed his head towards Boucher gratefully "Thank you..."

#

She nodded back to him "Just remember. There is always a way to improve the situation."

Then she smacked her hands together, "Speaking of which, I'm done here. You shouldn't have to worry to much about pulling your stitches, but it's probably best if you don't go trying to prove me wrong. Okay?"

#

Terry nodded "Yeah I'll be careful."

#

Miss Boucher hummed in acknowledgment, then looked up at the sky and asked "Is it even safe to fly do you think? What if whatever got you is still out there?"

#

Terry looked up and shook his head "Na. Last time it was pretty obvious, so I'm pretty sure we would see it if it was still happening."

#

Miss Boucher continued to anxiously scan the clear blue sky for signs of weirdness.

"I hope you're right." She muttered "I've spent almost sixty years in this body, and I don't think I would be able to cope if it suddenly changed on me."

#

"So I guess accepting that it could have happened to me is enough insanity for you then?" Terry joked.

#

She looked back at him and nodded "Precisely… And that reminds me that I didn't catch you name."

#

Technically she had actively avoided catching his name, but Terry decided not to mention that.

Everyone needed a coping mechanism after all.

Still, it was good that she was feeling ready to start accepting the fact that he was a person.

"Terry… Terry Skipwire."

#

She smiled at him politely "It's nice to meet you Mr. Skipwire… Despite the circumstances."

#

He smiled back and nodded "Likewise."


End file.
